COMMUNITY PROJECTS RECEIVE FUNDING TO BRIGHTEN UP DEVELOPMENT SITE
Seven community groups in Edinburgh are being allocated funding to enhance the New Waverley development in the Old Town while it is still under construction. Projects ranging from making Jacob’s Ladder steps more useable, lighting up the Arches during the winter festive period, art installations and a graveyard planting scheme will transform the area. Continue reading Transforming the Old Town
MEET the FUNDERS EVENT
Thursday 12 May – Public Drop in from 5 – 8pm
Waverley Court Courtyard Coffee Bar/Restaurant area
‘Meet the Funders’ is a free marketplace event providing access to funding information for community projects. It is an opportunity for groups to discuss their ideas with potential funders and collect a range of information about possible sources of grant aid. The event also offers the groups an opportunity to meet and work together.
The following exhibitors have confirmed attendance with more expected:
Big Lottery
Edinburgh4Community
Community Grants Fund
PassIT On
Royal Bank of Scotland Foundation
Sportscotland
The Robertson Trust
Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage
Princes Trust Youth Business Scotland
Registered Tenants Grants
MyParkScotland – Greenspace Scotland
First Port
Edinburgh Business Gateway
Scotland’s Employment Recruitment Incentive Fund
Art and Business Scotland
MOD Covenant Fund
The Melting Pot
Edinburgh Community Food
Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland
Greenspace Scotland Tesco Bags of Help
For more information, or if you would like to attend as an exhibitor, please contact Maureen Thompson on 0131 469 3595.
Angus Hardie’s article in the latest issue of Local People Leading gives food for thought:
Here’s a cautionary tale of two charities. Both deliver drug and alcohol services but that‘s where the similarity ends. Lifeline is based in Manchester, delivers services across the UK, employs around 700 staff and generates a turnover in excess of £42m – 26% up on last year. The Castle Project is based in the Craigmillar estate of Edinburgh, generates an income that just about covers costs, and for the past 27 years its only priority has been to serve the needs of that community by developing a complex network of support for its clients.
The DNA of these two charities could not be more different. Lifeline, driven by an insatiable appetite for growth, successfully tendered for the contract previously held by the Castle Project. Having to compete for ‘market share’ is anathema to the Castle Project and so it will close its doors next week – 27 years of local knowledge and experience thrown out with the procurement bath water.
In our Vision paper (below) we call for a thorough reappraisal of how services are procured and for a new premium to be placed on services that are genuinely locally based. Local By Default isn’t just a slogan – it’s part of the solution.
Best wishes
Angus Hardie, Director
Minister for Young People welcomes £533k investment in 161 projects across Scotland
Thousands of young people across Scotland will benefit from CashBack for Communities youth work grants totalling half-a-million pounds which have been announced today for 2014-15.
Sixteen Edinburgh youth projects will receive a share of almost £46,000 this year – local beneficiaries include Pilton Youth & Children’s Project (PYCP), Leith’s Pilmeny Development Project, The Yard in Stockbridge and Granton Youth Centre,
Allocations from the CashBack for Communities Youth Work Fund for the first year, administered by YouthLink Scotland, have been made to 161 community groups supporting young people the length and breadth of Scotland. Between them, they are sharing an initial £533,036, which marks the first awards from a £2.094 million fund over the next three years.
Minister for Children and Young People Aileen Campbell welcomed today’s announcement. She said: “Since Cashback for Communities was introduced by this Government in 2007, thousands of young people have benefited from more than 1.5 million sporting, cultural and educational activities and opportunities, all funded from ill-gotten cash seized from crooks. I am delighted to see so many great organisations are receiving this latest funding, which will help them take their important work even further.
“The average CashBack youth work funding award for each organisation is around £3,310 and that is an investment that will go a long way in supporting activities for young people. I have seen for myself many examples of the excellent work these organisations do, and wish them well as they turn exciting plans into reality.”
One organisation to have benefited is Strathmore Centre for Youth Development, which provides information and services for young people in the Strathmore area of Perthshire. It has received £2,182 to support its programme of activities, which includes organising trips for local youngsters.
Craig Cantwell, Centre Manager, said: “CashBack funding is extremely important to us as it allows us to give opportunities to young people who would otherwise never access such trips or learning opportunities. They are open to ideas and projects that are a bit different than the norm.
“As a retired Police Officer, I am grateful that this money is being put to good use and is being fed back into communities across Scotland.”
Another of the recipients to have benefited is Mid Argyll Youth Development Services, which has received £1,740 to support a dance program offered to young people throughout the region. Fiona Kalache, the Services’ Manager, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded a CashBack grant. This money will allow us to continue to run our diversionary dance program over the coming year. This is a very popular project which could not have carried on without this donation.”
Jim Sweeney, Chief Executive of YouthLink Scotland, said: “Our young people are the future of this nation so it is crucial they all have the opportunity to flourish. Putting the cash from criminals back into communities has offered thousands of young people the chance of a more positive path in life. Investing in youth work changes young people’s lives. It is an investment in all our futures as it helps create young people who are confident, engaged and a credit to society.”
Since the inception of the CashBack for Communities in 2007, over £74 million recovered from criminals has been invested in the Cashback Programme to provide over 1.5 million free activities for children and young people throughout Scotland.
